The swept did some sweeping

The Reds turned around the week rather well. After getting swept by St. Louis, they did it to Florida by getting a 2-0 win Sunday. And after all the angst of the lost series, the Reds end the home stand in first place all alone again. The Cardinals lost by a 9-7 score to the Cubs and dropped two of three to fall a game back in the NL Central.

The good —

*Homer Bailey got it done in a big way with six scoreless innings, three hits, no walks and four strikeouts. His pitch count was high early (44 thru 2 inn, 63 thru 3) but some quick innings kept him in the game and buried the Marlins. After allowing back-to-back two-out singles, he retired 16 of 17 and his last 10 in a row to finish with 102 pitches.

*Miguel Cairo came up huge again with his two-run homer in the sixth — the difference in the game. I keep remembering fans wanting him outta here after less than a month in April.

*Jim Edmonds got his first hit with the Reds after 0-for-12 start with a double off of the LF wall. Edmonds was robbed of a homer in the fourth inning by splendid leaping catch at the wall by Marlins center fielder Emilio Bonifacio.

*The Reds bullpen got into some jams but got it done with three solid innings with Ondrusek, Masset and Cordero. The ninth was fraught with danger after Cordero gave up a leadoff double on a 0-2 pitch. After getting a groundout and a called strikeout, Cordero walked Cody Ross but got Donnie Murphy with a called K to end it.

*Jay Bruce’s 1-for-4 day has him hitting .389 (7-for-18) over his last six games with one homer and six RBIs.

*Orlando Cabrera served a batboy for four innings in a pretty comical scene. Be sure to see my story on that on MLB.com

The not-so-good —

*Joey Votto got run in the bottom of the first for disputing a 1-1 strike call by home plate umpire D.J. Rayburn. Votto didn’t so much dispute in a visible sense, but obviously said something that got him tossed. That’s two first inning ejections this season.

The Marlins were 0-for-9 RISP for the day, 0-for-27 for the series. No matter which team it is, that’s brutal.

Quotes —

“That’s a reverse sweep. That’s what we talked about before this series started. That’s a quality team over there. They’ve got some dynamite hitters, some good pitching and they’re going to be good for a long time. We held their offense down today pretty much, which is a hard thing to do. Coming out of Washington, they had some hot bats.” — Dusty Baker

“He’s been great. He stays ready all the time. I told him yesterday he’d be playing today. He works hard. He trains hard. He loves to play and he knows what it takes to win. I’d hate to think where we’d be without him.” — Baker on Cairo

“I enjoy every single day of my baseball career and my life. I’ve been blessed to wear this uniform and all the uniforms I’ve worn. I enjoy what I do. This is what I know how to do. It’s been nice to be here and be in the big leagues.” — Miguel Cairo

“The biggest thing was pounding the zone. I thought my balls-to-strikes ratio was pretty good. That’s what I went into the game thinking.” — Homer Bailey

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